Hack attack on barrister ... Heavy-handed Jewish lobby calling the shots ... No support from chambers ... Eerie silence from professional bodies about Gaza atrocities ... Latest cancellations ... Free speech in a spin ... From our Editorial Board
Poynder: criticism of the State of IsraelWe live in turbulent times - as we can see when a lawyer faces attack from political and media ideologues over sincerely expressed, if angry, personal opinions, and yet there's no collegiate support from his brothers and sisters in the law.
Such is the case of Nick Poynder, whom The Israelian reported earlier this year had been referred by a hardline Jewish activist outfit to the Bureau de Spank for punishment over tweets in support of the Palestinians.
Poynder, from Frederick Jordan Chambers, is a barrister of more than 30 years standing, a leading immigration advocate and a former staffer at the Human Rights Commission.
The US owned and controlled newspaper The Australian is the first port of call for the pro-Israeli lobby - so it was that the Australian Jewish Association got its story into the reliable propaganda sheet:
"Legal watchdog urged to stand down barrister who claimed Hamas were 'absolute heroes'."
Robert Gregory, the CEO of the AJA, claimed that Poynder's posts constitute "serious antisemitic incitement and vilification against Jewish people" and that he is "not a fit and proper person to practice as a barrister in NSW".
In a breathless burst of frothing, he added:
"Unless dealt with decisively, the publication by the barrister ... will inevitably bring the entire legal profession in NSW in general, and the barristers' profession in particular into disrepute."
The Daily Smellograph followed up with a laboured headline: "Poynder of no return".
David Adler is the president of AJA and a leading figure in the ultra-right outfit Advance. He distinguished himself during the Voice campaign by questioning the Aboriginal heritage of Stan Grant and Lidia Thorpe.
On social media he suggested that Grant deliberately darkens his skin: "Is Stan Grant doing Black Face?"
He also posted an abusive message about Sen. Thorpe: "What % Aboriginal are you? You appear quite white. Nor sure she's Blak (or Black)".
Jewish organisations deplored Adler's remarks and Attorney General Mark Dreyfus described them as "disgusting [and] disgraceful" - yet The Australian is happy to push the AJA's barrow.
Poynder's Twitter/X account has gone dormant, but we managed to salvage some of his posts which Procrustes republished in a column last March.
The attack from the AJA and The Australian cherry-picked Poynder's remarks, without context - which the barrister has provided here.
Procrustes pointed out that the gist of his remarks was "directed at the genocidal activities of the IDF, representing the Israeli state, in Gaza, and not directed against Jewish people qua Jewish people".
It is not inherently antisemitic to condemn the overreaching slaughter in Gaza by the IDF.
Frederick Jordan Chambers has responded with a message on the front page of its website, where Poynder is referred to as an "individual".
In other words, Poynder has as good as been told by his chambers, "you're on your own, pal". No collective collegiate support available from that pack of weasels.
Instead, they could have made a noble Voltairanian statement along the lines: "Some members of chambers disagree with Poynder's point of view, but defend his right to express it."
By contrast, the clerk at his chambers in Melbourne has been incredibly supportive.
The Legal Services Commission has done the usual pass the parcel and sent the AJA complaint to the Bar Association, which has not uttered a squeak. You'd have thought that by now any half-decent professional guild would have thrown the complaint in the bin.
There haven't been any noises from the Law Council since its October 13 statement last year condemning Hamas and hoping that Israel will adhere to humanitarian law and a proportionate response.
The Law Society of NSW announced that it supported whatever the Law Council said.
Israel's proportionate response
However, there was an open letter in November last year signed by more than 1,400 lawyers calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Maybe it's a distant memory, but many will recall that Bret Walker SC arranged for Palestinian lawyers to address a well-attended meeting of members of the NSW Bar about proceedings taken by individuals who had been displaced by illegal settlers.
It's best not to confuse the various Jewish organisations and their missions. On important issues, Poynder and the moderate Jewish Council of Australia are on the same page.
The Murdoch media has spruiked the Executive Council of Australian Jewry's concern about Palestinians fleeing Gaza who might end up living next door to Jews in Australia.
On the other hand, the Jewish Council of Australia has urged the government to protect from racist attacks Palestinians who have managed to escape from the war zone.
It was the Executive Council of Jewry that pressed the government to criminalise doxxing, after the identity of members of a collective of Jewish "creatives" was revealed online.
Earlier this month the Jewish Council of Australia also called on the Australian government to do more "to halt Israel's assault on Gaza".
"The Australian Government should be using all available forms of diplomatic pressure, including sanctions and travel bans on extremist settlers and those suspected of war crimes."
This followed the Council's earlier call for Australia to cut military ties with Israel and impose sanctions.
Robert Gregory from the AJA, at CPAC
Murdoch's hacks are signed on to amplify the ludicrous demand from a far-right, fringe Jewish organisation campaigning for a human rights barrister to be struck off.
For reactionaries the shoe has slipped to the other foot, for now they are the ones calling for opponents to be "cancelled" and for free speech to be curtailed, unless it's free speech in support of the Zionist cause.
Cancellation by the State Library of Victoria of events hosted by pro-Palestinian writers is a signal that this significant cultural institution has been cowered.
Much the same happened at Victoria Legal Aid where lawyers have been issued with an edict not to discuss in the workplace "the conflict between Israel and Palestine".
It's something of a world-wide trend, as reported by our sister publication 500Words.com.au
In Britain the Campaign Against Antisemitism lobbied the Crown Prosecution Service to appeal a magistrate's refusal to punish three women who protested with images of paragliders on their shirts - a reference to the method Hamas' militants used to enter Israel on October 7.
For good measure the CAAS referred the magistrate to the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office.
The British Labour Party has been busy cancelling candidates who make unscheduled comments in support of Palestinians. The candidate for Hyndburn was "administratively suspended" after calling for Brits fighting in the defence force of "fucking Israel" to be "locked up".
Journalists in CNN newsrooms around the globe have editorial policies enforced by the bosses that slant coverage towards Israel and its propaganda.
The BBC has also removed reporters from the News Arabic service for being a bit too Arabic. One got the boot for liking a message that described Hamas as "freedom fighters".
The Beeb has been having a war with itself over whether to refer to Hamas as "militants" or "terrorists".
Famed Guardian cartoonist Steve Bell was shown the door after he drew Benjamin Netanyahu cutting the outline of Gaza from his stomach. He remarked:
"It is getting pretty nigh impossible to draw this subject for the Guardian now without being accused of deploying 'antisemitic tropes'."
Steve Bell, The Guardian
Absent from much of the commentary is consideration of the connection between Israel's war crimes in Gaza and the global rise in antisemitism.
Palestinian academics and writers have observed that "the fight against antisemitism has been increasingly instrumentalised by the Israeli government and its supporters in an effort to delegitimise the Palestinian cause and silence defenders of Palestinian rights".
The New York Times is reporting that Israeli officials' believe the International Criminal Court is preparing charges against Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior leaders, while warrants against Hamas leaders are also under consideration.
The evidence is building, and includes the genocidal targeting of civilians, medical workers, aid agencies, and food convoys.
Meanwhile, Nicholas Poynder is on the cusp of moving back to his home state of Van Diemen's Land where he'll hang his shingle at the Hobart Bar.
The move had been planned well before the Australian Jewish Association spoon fed Janet Albrechtsen and her sidekick at The Australian with a demand he be struck off the jam roll.